7-day plan: Who God Is
How God presents himself: one, eternal, near, and with a name of his own.
One passage a day, with a question to think it over. Your progress stays on this device, no account needed.
Day 1 · Only One, and Unlike Anything Else
Moses sums up Israel's faith: YHWH is one, and he is loved with the whole self
Hear, Israel: YHWH our Elohim, YHWH is one. You shall love YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Deuteronomy 6:4–5 · Read the whole chapterTo think about
What does this passage say about what God is like?
Day 2 · Eternal and Present Everywhere
Moses prays: before the mountains were born, God already was; a thousand years are like yesterday
A prayer of Moses, the man of Elohim. Adonai, you have been a dwelling place for us from generation to generation. Before the mountains were born, or you gave birth to the earth and the world, even from forever to forever you are El. You turn back the mortal to dust, and say, “Return, human beings.” For a thousand years in your eyes are like the day of yesterday when it passes, and like a watch in the night.
Psalms 90:1–4 · Read the whole chapterTo think about
Which word or phrase stays with you, and why?
Day 3 · Near and Compassionate
God describes himself to Moses: merciful, slow to anger, great in steadfast love
And YHWH passed by before him and proclaimed, “YHWH, YHWH, an El merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness, keeping loyal love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, calling to account the iniquity of fathers on sons and on sons’ sons, to the third and to the fourth generation.”
Exodus 34:6–7 · Read the whole chapterTo think about
What situation in your life does this passage speak to?
Day 4 · His Name
At the bush, Moses asks God's name and hears "I will be who I will be"
Moses said to Elohim, “Look, if I come to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘The Elohim of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” Elohim said to Moses, “I will be who I will be.” And he said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘Ehyeh has sent me to you.’” Elohim also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘YHWH, the Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of Isaac, and the Elohim of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and this is my remembrance from generation to generation.
Exodus 3:13–15 · Read the whole chapterTo think about
What does it invite you to do today, even something small?
Day 5 · Only One, and Unlike Anything Else
God himself declares there is no other besides him, from east to west
I am YHWH, and there is no other; besides me there is no Elohim; I will gird you, though you have not known me, so that they may know from the rising of the sun and from its west that there is nothing besides me; I am YHWH, and there is no other;
Isaiah 45:5–6 · Read the whole chapterTo think about
Who could you share this with this week?
Day 6 · Eternal and Present Everywhere
David asks where he could flee from God, and finds God is there too
Where shall I go from your spirit, and where from your face shall I flee? If I go up to the heavens, there you are; and if I make my bed in Sheol, look, you are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell at the farthest end of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will take hold of me. And if I say, “Surely darkness will cover me, and the light around me become night,” even darkness is not dark to you, and the night shines like the day; as the darkness, so the light.
Psalms 139:7–12 · Read the whole chapterTo think about
What would you like to say to God after reading it?
Day 7 · Near and Compassionate
David compares God to a father who knows what we are made of
Merciful and gracious is YHWH, slow to anger and abounding in loyal love. He will not always contend, nor forever will he bear a grudge. Not according to our sins has he dealt with us, nor according to our iniquities has he repaid us. For as the height of the heavens above the earth, so strong is his loyal love over those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far he has removed from us our transgressions. As a father has compassion on his sons, YHWH has compassion on those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that dust we are.
Psalms 103:8–14 · Read the whole chapterTo think about
Looking back over the week, what changed in how you see this topic?